The artist, known for her distorted sculptures, almost died in 2005. Now she’s a favourite for this year’s Turner Prize

Angela de la Cruz is in her wheelchair, bundled up in a black coat, face
peeping out over the collar: shiny black eyes glinting behind her glasses,
short glossy black hair.

The temperature outside her studio is zero; inside, despite an electric
heater, it’s much the same. Around us are several thickly painted monochrome
objects — a crushed metal box, a canvas hanging in folds like an oilskin —
the kind of thoughtful pieces that have made her a well-fancied contender
for the Turner Prize on Monday.

It might be tempting to associate her broken, distorted sculptures or
installations with the artist’s